IndyCar preview: Grand Prix of Indianapolis

Like most of you, I’m a big fan of onboard cameras – particularly RACER's Marshall Pruett/Simon Pagenaud visor-cams, of course – but one of the coolest things I ever saw while riding shotgun via TV came courtesy of Juan Pablo Montoya in the Formula 1 Williams-BMW at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course.

During the U.S. Grand Prix one year, hurtling down the front straight at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway road course and chasing Michael Schumacher’s Ferrari, Montoya caught the scarlet car just as they got into the brake zone for the first turn, but wasn’t close enough to make it stick; the Williams driver was still scrubbing off speed as Schuey was getting back on the gas. Through the twisty section, Monty lost a little ground but was still going to be close enough to get a tow, and the BMW power was considerable… He could still get him. Next time by, as he swept through oval Turn 1, the final turn on the road course at that time, we were riding with Montoya as he reached up and tightened each of his shoulder straps! Sure enough, that Ferrari rear wing grew closer and closer and this time Juan was able to brake impossibly late, yet didn’t even lock a tire. He was past Schuey and away.

As Graham Rahal tells us in his Insight story, it is still possible to brake very late for that 90-degree right hander. And it’s impossible to block in a subtle manner because the track’s so wide. And you can get a major tow effect down the main straight. This could be a thrilling scrap.

VICTORY CONTENDERS

Judging by last week’s test, Juan Montoya (ABOVE) has still got that special something around IMS road course – he was just a tenth and a half slower than his Team Penske teammates Helio Castroneves and Will Power. Of course, testing is one thing, qualifying another but JPM was only 0.3sec from Power in Q2 at Barber… There’s enough evidence to suggest he could be in the thick of the lead fight here, along with his teammates.

A couple of Honda drivers have hinted that they think their HPD engines are a tad stronger than the Ilmor-built Chevrolets at the top end this season, but it’s been hard to confirm that thus far. The long pit straight at Indy will provide more evidence, although bear in mind much will depend on gearing and wing levels. But Andretti Autosport only need things to be even between the manufacturers to go out and win. The Ryan Hunter-Reay (BELOW) / Marco Andretti 1-2 at Barber may have owed quite a lot to the drivers’ dexterity in the wet-then-drying conditions, but all four Andretti cars looked very fast at various points over the weekend. There’s no reason to expect any different here, especially with Franck Montagny (RIGHT) adding a fifth stream of data to the team’s effort, as he pilots the entry tabbed for Kurt Busch in the “500.”

The fastest man in the test, however, was Scott Dixon and he was ably backed by Chip Ganassi Racing teammate Ryan Briscoe who has taken a while to show his true colors in his new berth but when everything is right, he’s well able to be top of the CGR foursome. Interestingly, he was second fastest when the track was “green” in the morning, and kept pace with the conditions in the afternoon, which indicates a driver (a) taking full advantage of the facilities offered by a top team and (b) clicking well with his engineer. Don’t be surprised to see RB on pole on Friday nor standing on the center step of the podium come Saturday afternoon. But say the same for reigning champion Dixon, who is looking for his first win of 2014.

Simon Pagenaud as the winner of the inaugural GP of Indianapolis is definitely a strong possibility. If his qualifying run at Barber was a disappointment, it’s possibly the only session of the season where he’s been genuinely bewildered about where the speed went. Pagenaud’s technical understanding of the cars is phenomenal, and this scientific and thoughtful approach to a race weekend can pay particular dividends when he and engineer Ben Bretzman encounter new tracks.

KV Racing seems to be on the verge of a breakthrough (as ever) with Sebastien Bourdais being fearsomely fast (as ever) but making the odd slip here and there. Super Seb had the pace to get podiums at both Long Beach and Barber, but errors crippled his chances. However, he has the natural pace to carry his car, and in what could be a wild slipstreaming race, he has the intelligence and instinct to pull the trigger at the suitable time.